Projects ranging from original dance works, to research on topics including the civil war in Somalia, breast cancer cell growth and Facebook dependency will be featured during the ninth annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Performance at Hope College on Friday, April 9, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Richard and Helen DeVos Fieldhouse.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
More than 200 projects have been conducted by some 350 Hope students and their faculty mentors. The presentations will feature posters illustrating the projects, with many of the students on-hand to discuss their work.
The students and their projects will represent all of the college's academic divisions: the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural and applied sciences.
The research and performance celebration, first presented in 2001, is designed to spotlight the quality and importance of student-faculty collaborative research at Hope, a teaching model used at the college for several decades. Students throughout the college conduct original research and creative projects in collaboration with faculty mentors during both the school year and summer, including more than 150 students - from Hope and other institutions--in the natural and applied sciences division full-time for eight to 10 weeks each summer.
Hope has received recognition in a variety of ways for its emphasis on undergraduate research. For the past eight years, since the category debuted, the "America's Best Colleges" guide published by "U.S. News and World Report" has included Hope on its listing of institutions that are exceptional for their emphasis on undergraduate research and creative projects. Hope ranked fourth in the nation when the category debuted in 2003; the institutions are no longer ranked, but only 27 are on the list in the 2010 edition. The guide also includes Hope among the top 100 national liberal arts colleges in the U.S.
The Undergraduate Research Celebration is being held in conjunction with a Junior Day scheduled by the college's admissions office. Approximately 250 prospective students and their parents are anticipated for the Junior Day.
The fieldhouse is located at 222 Fairbanks Ave., at Fairbanks Avenue between Ninth and 11th streets.